Help! Should I Add a "Community" to a Subdomain or Subfolder?

The Expert · 08-14-2009, 10:38 AM

I'm going to be adding a community script (either vBulletin, Dolphin, or Elgg) to my Wordpress review site in the near future.

I'm wondering if I should install it on a subfolder or a subdomain? My understanding is that subdomains are treated more like a separate site than elements contained in subfolders.

The concern comes with SEO. Let's say the niche targeted keyword is "Mountain Bikes" and I have a mountain bike review site in spot #2 for that keywrod. All pages are crafted well for the term "Mountain Bikes" (this is not the actual niche) and a lot of backlinks have been built with that anchor text (and related anchor text) terms.

Site currently get 10,000+ unique visitors p/day from Google natural search and it's poised to start building a community for repeat user traffic, User Generated Content, and all the other good stuff that comes with having your own online community.

Here's my concern...once the community starts going crazy there will be more content generated that is not crafted to the term "mountain bikes". Also, when users start backlinking to the community homepage they will start using the term "Mountain Bike Forum" or "Mountain Bike Community" and not "Mountain Bikes". I'm worried that this will cause keyword confusion for Google.

"Mountain Bike Forum" gets only 1/10 the traffic p/day that "Mountain Bikes" does and "Mountain Bike Community" is even worse. So I don't want to lose my top rank for "Mountain Bikes".

Should I install the community (whatever one I go with) on a subdomain? I'm thinking that google will associate the wrong anchor text keywords that naturally develop not with the main content of my site...but with the community only. However, all the inbound link juice from the community will still flow through the site as a whole (both main domain and subdomain) which I can channel to promote the main domain. I have no ideas on what would happen if I install it on a subfolder instead of a subdomain.

Am I wrong here?

08-14-2009, 10:38 AM	#1
The Expert HyperActive Warrior Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 357 Thanks: 26 Thanked 52 Times in 32 Posts	Help! Should I Add a "Community" to a Subdomain or Subfolder? I'm going to be adding a community script (either vBulletin, Dolphin, or Elgg) to my Wordpress review site in the near future. I'm wondering if I should install it on a subfolder or a subdomain? My understanding is that subdomains are treated more like a separate site than elements contained in subfolders. The concern comes with SEO. Let's say the niche targeted keyword is "Mountain Bikes" and I have a mountain bike review site in spot #2 for that keywrod. All pages are crafted well for the term "Mountain Bikes" (this is not the actual niche) and a lot of backlinks have been built with that anchor text (and related anchor text) terms. Site currently get 10,000+ unique visitors p/day from Google natural search and it's poised to start building a community for repeat user traffic, User Generated Content, and all the other good stuff that comes with having your own online community. Here's my concern...once the community starts going crazy there will be more content generated that is not crafted to the term "mountain bikes". Also, when users start backlinking to the community homepage they will start using the term "Mountain Bike Forum" or "Mountain Bike Community" and not "Mountain Bikes". I'm worried that this will cause keyword confusion for Google. "Mountain Bike Forum" gets only 1/10 the traffic p/day that "Mountain Bikes" does and "Mountain Bike Community" is even worse. So I don't want to lose my top rank for "Mountain Bikes". Should I install the community (whatever one I go with) on a subdomain? I'm thinking that google will associate the wrong anchor text keywords that naturally develop not with the main content of my site...but with the community only. However, all the inbound link juice from the community will still flow through the site as a whole (both main domain and subdomain) which I can channel to promote the main domain. I have no ideas on what would happen if I install it on a subfolder instead of a subdomain. Am I wrong here?